What effect did slow communication between Britain and the colonies have on colonial governance?

• A. It prevented any colonial governance
• B. It led to the development of self-government
• C. It centralized power in Britain
• D. It caused immediate independence

Answer: (B)

Slow communication between Britain and the colonies meant messages and instructions arrived too slowly to manage day-to-day affairs from afar. Because of that delay, colonists created and practiced their own systems of government—elected assemblies, local councils, and colonial courts—to handle laws, taxes, and daily governance. This hands-on self-rule established habits and institutions of local authority that continued even as Britain tried to impose more control, laying the groundwork for a stronger sense of political autonomy. It’s not that governance stopped altogether, or that power moved entirely to Britain, or that independence happened right away; the slow pace of contact simply pushed colonies to govern themselves, which later contributed to the push for independence.